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10.14.2014

Persephone at Amphipolis?

Lots of reports are spreading that the Persephone to the right of the
mosaic has been uncovered - no big surprise both because she's usually
to the right of Hades ... and because everyone at the site except the
architect seems to be leaking information.

What will be
far more interesting would be to see who's to the left of Hermes?
Probably Demeter would be the other side, and the usual Guardians are
also possible.

11 comments:

hello mrs King, have you noticed the difference of the colors in the mosaic? The driver and the first horse are created with fair colors, they look enlightened as Hermes and the second horse look to be in the background..

To anewer Πί..Aerial perspective or atmospheric perspective refers to the effect the atmosphere has on the appearance of an object as it is viewed from a distance. As the distance between an object and a viewer increases, the contrast between the object and its background decreases, and the contrast of any markings or details within the object also decreases.Atmospheric perspective was used in Pompeian Second Style paintings, one of the Pompeian Styles, dating as early as 30 BCE. A notable example is the Gardenscape from the Villa of Livia in Primaporta, Italy.Now the art history books must be rewritten to the time of the great Apellis!What must we not thank the Greeks for?

Some very interesting comments by a very distinguished Archaeologist (Dorothy King, PhD) and lots of very interesting thoughts and ideas for discussion.

As a person who was born approximately 50 km to the East of Amphipolis I would like to add few more thoughts and comments to the discussion.

The tomb i.e. the whole structure (the artificial hill we see and the buried structures we do not) is quite unique by Ancient Greek standards. It is a burial structure of monumental proportions (Perfect circle with a perimeter of almost 500 m). Perhaps, only second in size to the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Its uniqueness was further demonstrated once archaeologists were able to go inside.

Hence, all expert archaeologists plus the rest of the people need to be quite careful when they openly and very strongly hypothesize on the person(s) buried there. It seems to me that most experts pick up just one clue and hypothesize who the buried person(s) are. As if the holistic approach which is based on conclusive (or at least strong) evidence is something unknown to them. Initially, Katerina Peristeri tried in a polite way to calm them down by reminding them that they have not even seen the excavation (or at least bother and talk to her). However, this is not something worth even mentioning for the modern “Calchas” of Archaeological Science Professor Olga Palaggia (PhD Oxford). I guess too much association with the other undisputed “Colossus” of Archaeology Professor Eugene Borza and you get the charisma of prophesizing.

I had the chance to visit the site up to the police check point back in late August on my way back to UK. As a holder of a PhD in Civil/Structural Engineering I was quite astonished by the size of the structure. Only a person of very high social, political and financial status could finance the construction of such tomb. I heard some estimates according to which the perimeter is made of 2100 cubic meters of marble (specific gravity of marble = 2.7). 5670 tons of Thassian marble which they had to mine, process and then ship it to Amphipolis (Not always an easy thing to do in Northern Aegean sea. Especially during winter!). Not to mention the marble for the buried structures, statutes and the lion at the top)! Although Strymon river changed its course due to a very strong earthquake at the end of 6 century AD the constructors still had to lift all these marbles at a considerable height (foothills of Pangaion Mountain where the tomb is located). This project clearly demanded huge resources and a lot of time. Although, there were silver and gold mines in the area of Pangaion, this project in my opinion was funded by captured Persian gold because it was VERY VERY EXPENSIVE.

Who ordered its construction and who are the person(s) buried remains to be seen. My question is: If it was constructed immediately after the death of Alexander or between 325-300 BC did they have enough time to finish it before the Diadochi started slaughtering each other and spending huge sums of money for their civil wars? What about Cassander? Would he allow the construction and completion of a monument like this for Alexander? Is it relatively easy to construct such a monument during this very stormy era? Would a diadochos dare to spend so much money for such a monument while trying to cement its power? On the other hand all the archaeological findings point to that period. Unless, the chronologies of the Diadochi wars which are based on much later sources of bibliography are not very accurate. Quite puzzling for archaeologists!

In any case we all need to be very careful and wait for more proof which I am sure will appear on the coming months. Although, I think that Peristeri and the Ministry of Culture are always one step ahead prior to releasing new information…

Dorothy, please do yourself a favor and shut up about Amphipolis. You don't know what you are talking about, and your claiming you have insider's info makes you even more ridiculous. Besides, it paints a negative image for the archeological team you claim leaks to you information not made available to the public.

As ELLHN has posted in his comment, the size of this tomb may be second only to the largest Giza pyramid..was it not one of Alexander's final plans or "wishes" that- " A tomb for his father Philip was to be constructed to match the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt, buildings which some persons count among the seven greatest works of man"?I understand that there has been alot of debate over whether or not it is actually Phillip II in Tomb II at Vergina, and that this week it was announced that it is definitely Phillip and a Scythian wife. Perhaps even though the written history that has survived says his plans were considered to expensive to institute, they did follow through with more than just the Temple to Athena at Troy when it came to his final wishes. I suppose we can never really know who is buried where unless we were either there to see it, or there are inscriptions that say "Phillip is buried here".I just find it very coincidental....

My comment of October 15th 2014 (1:28AM) was sent in good faith, although in rather plain words. I suggested to you what your own lawyer would have advised you to do. Invoking "insider's information" you exposed yourself to possible legal liability, and defamation of the archeological digging team at Amphipolis.

Naturally, all of us non specialist in the field, always welcome your personal insights into this extraordinary find.

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